Four Southeastern Louisiana University students to further their education in Japan

They use words like "interferometry" and "nanometer," terms that might be foreign to most without a scientific background. In a few weeks, the tables will be turned. On June 20, four college students from St. Tammany Parish will depart for about two months in Tokyo to take part in physics research at a Japanese university.

View full sizeTed Jackson, The Times-PicayuneThese SLU students are headed to Japan this summer to conduct research at the Tokyo Denki University. From left are Brittany Williamson, David Strickland, Lauryn Winstead and Justin Wright, photographed with laser apparatus designed by SLU physics professor Sanichiro Yoshida.

On the job, they'll be continuing research on the development of an instrument used -- in layman's terms -- to detect the weaknesses in a wide range of materials. And when they're off duty, they'll be eating sushi, drinking Sapporo and visiting Mount Fuji.

The four are students at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. Under a grant awarded to SLU professor Sanichiro Yoshida three years ago by the National Science Foundation to "encourage student experimental research in physics," Southeastern and Denki University in Tokyo have worked together "studying and characterizing the mechanical properties of materials."

But there's much more for David Strickland of Pearl River, Brittany Williamson of Covington and Lauryn Winstead and Justin Wright of Mandeville. A couple of them have never been out of the country, and another has only been on a cruise to Mexico.

They all agree that physics equations are nothing compared to even learning enough just Japanese to avoid getting lost.

"I'm not going to even try to learn how to read it," said Strickland, 22.

It helps that Yoshida, who will be making the trip with his students, is a native of Japan. Especially in an area students likely haven't even thought of, beyond the language barriers, the professor warns his protégés that college-age adults are still often looked upon as children on the other side of the world.

In other words, "whatever" doesn't translate well.

"I can't imagine if I couldn't find anyone who spoke English or wasn't able to communicate with anyone -- if I just got lost in Tokyo by myself. What would happen?" said Strickland, a graduate of Pearl River High School.

This is the third summer Yoshida will take students to Tokyo.

"They will learn," he said of his students. "I tell them, if the professor says, 'You do this,' you say, 'Yes, sir.' Never say, 'Hey' to a professor.

"You can argue if you have a valid point, but 'I'm busy' doesn't work. ... I think they understand because every year I have one or two students coming over from Japan, and they talk to them."

The students agree the toughest part will be trying to communicate. Although many street signs are in English, and some of the students at Denki speak the language, Japanese isn't necessarily something one can learn in a few weeks.

"We did a crash course in Japanese, basically introducing us to their language. ... Uh, yeah, throw out what you've learned with other languages," Strickland said. "Here are some symbols and drawings; figure it out. There are 50 letters of the alphabet used for conjugation, but there are over 3,000 characters used in words. ... To read the newspaper there, you have to know at least 1,500. I guess I won't be reading the paper."

It will be the trip of a lifetime for Winstead, 24, who has been too busy with school to travel abroad. After earning a degree in psychology from LSU a few years ago, she spent time as a real estate appraiser while taking care of her sick mother.

Soon after, she decided to go back to school and is a junior taking pre-med. Last semester, while taking a physics lab as part of her curriculum, she met Yoshida, who asked whether she'd be interested in going to Japan. She jumped at the chance.

Other than what she might learn as part of this project, she is most excited about the sightseeing opportunities. A veteran sushi eater, she said she'll eat "just about anything" -- with one exception.

"Last year, the kids ate some sort of octopus that was still alive. It was still moving," she said. "I'm not eating anything that's still moving."